Shared Sacrifices
by Wild Lorelei
Summary: Damon and Elena are living separate lives of shared sacrifice in order to keep each other safe. Now Bonnie has taken a dark turn and threatens to undo everything they have accomplished. But will this also bring them back together?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She could almost feel the burn of his eyes boring into her back as she walked towards the convenience store door. It was after midnight, and after a long night spent writing to meet a deadline, she dreaded running this silly errand. Too much time spent trying to focus on her investigative report of Senator Mayfield had caused her to almost forget how her refrigerator was empty. The parking lot was empty as she quickly moved to the door. A blur of movement reflected in the glass of the store entrance confirmed that he was here. Elena felt her stomach fly up and her breath catch. Determined to not acknowledge the specter of his presence, she pushed the door open quickly and practically ran to the dairy case in the back of the store. When he would finally let her go, she wondered in despair. Never, her subconscious answered back, you know he promised to never leave you again. Somehow, after eight years, she liked to think that he could see she was okay, that she had moved on from the death and tragedy and danger. As she reached in to grab a carton of milk, her gaze caught the reflection of his ice blue eyes as her moved up behind her.  
Taking a breath, she slowly turned to murmur, "Damon. . ." her voice barely audible as she tried not to get lost in the intensity of his gaze. She wondered why he had chosen to show himself to her. . she always knew he was there, watching from a distance. But normally, he did not force contact with her.

Damon frowned and grabbed the milk jug from her hand, "Do you not have any sense at all? Why are you roaming around here at this time of night?" he demanded. "Haven't you learned there are dangerous creatures that came out at night?"

"Oh, do you mean yourself? Or some other dangerous beast?" she retorted, her eyes flashing as she grabbed the milk back and stomped towards the food aisle. "You have to stop this; I'm not your responsibility to worry about anymore. I'm not a child, Damon. I'm capable of making my own decisions."

Damon followed her, a look of exasperation and desperation on his face. "Where is your cell phone? If you are so capable of taking care of yourself, you would realize that Jeremy has been trying to reach you for hours. Or maybe that's just you making the decision of not taking his calls."

Elena stopped abruptly, whirling around to face him again. "What are you talking about? My phone hasn't rang all day. . " she said as she pulled it from her purse. She glanced at it to see six missed calls and 5 texts messages, all apparently from Jeremy. "Oh, I forgot my ringer was turned off so I could work," she explained.

She looked up to face and the look in his eyes confirmed that the messages were not good news. "It's Bonnie. She's gone missing." he said. Elena knew that couldn't be all of it. There was no way Jeremy would use Damon to contact her unless something truly terrible had happened.

"What else?" she asked nervously. She thought she was done with this drama and danger. It had been eight years since they had found a way to steal Esther's power to lock Alaric in a crypt, just as the previous hunter had been before him. Eight years since Klaus was desiccated and hidden where no one would find him. Eight years since Stefan. .

"The stake is missing too. . ." Damon replied, cutting off Elena's train of thought. "She might be trying to wake Alaric and give him hunting tools. . or she might be trying to find Klaus so she can end all of us." He reached out to touch her arm, "Either way, Elena, you're not safe."

Elena turned and walked through the aisle, haphazardly grabbing a box of cereal as she went. Damon watched her for moment before following behind her. "What are you doing?" he demanded. "Let's get out of here. Anybody in the world can find you quickly enough, since you have taken no chances on advertising your existence with that column of yours." Elena kept walking, gathering a few different food items before heading up towards the cashier. Damon was becoming increasingly exasperated.

"Elena, did you hear me?" he growled.

"I heard you fine, I'm just choosing to ignore you." Elena would not, c_ould _not, allow the thought of Klaus to enter her mind. She had spent most of the last decade rebuilding her herself, establishing a career, a _life _that did not revolve around secret plots and dangerous villains. She hurriedly dropped her items in front of the bored cashier.

Damon grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. "Let's go. I'll carry you out of here if I have to," he said through his tightly clenched jaw.

"Hey, lady, this guy bothering you?" came a voice as the lazy clerk suddenly perked up, addressing Elena as he warily watched Damon man-handle her arm. Damon darted over to the clerk before Elena could even react, grabbing the skinny young man's neck and dragging his face close to his. His icy blue eyes wrestled control over the scared boy's gaze.

"Go in the back room and stay away until we leave. You will not remember seeing us here." Damon said as he compelled the boy, letting his hand drop from his throat. The clerk quickly turned away and scurried to the back of the store like a rat into a hole.

"Great. Now how am I going to pay for this stuff?" Elena huffed, moving further away from Damon to start gathering things. Damon reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, hurriedly fishing out a twenty dollar bill that he threw on the counter.

"That should cover it. Grab your stuff and let's go." he replied. He grabbed a few of the items before shouldering Elena towards to the door. Elena sighed heavily and decided it would be better to just get out of this public space before Damon made his threat to carry her out real.

"Fine. Let's go." She walked to the door and out into the damp air of the evening, heading towards her car without looking back. She went to open the trunk as Damon followed behind her.

"I think we should just take one car. Why don't you ride with me? We can find someplace to go to start sorting things out." Damon suggested.

"Damon, I'm exhausted. I'm hungry. We don't even know what's going on. I'm getting in this car, and I'm driving myself home. I can't stop you from following me. But that's what is happening. " Elena ranked the door open and settled herself down into the seat. Damon's eyes flashed in anger as he reached in to grab her keys.

"Elena, I don't know what's going on with you. But you are not being rational. Please let me protect you. I've done everything you've asked, please just take a moment to think this through and help me. Call Jeremy if you need to." He bent down to stoop beside the car as he held steadfastly onto the keys clasped in her hand. His face was inches from hers and their gazes locked for what seemed like minutes. Elena felt that familiar electric pull, the sizzle that streaked through her skin to her very core whenever he touched her. Her breath stopped short, and she blanched away from him to stop the sudden assault on her senses. Closing her eyes and resting her head on the seat back, she paused just a moment to consider his outburst.

"When have you ever done what I've asked?" she responded, opening her eyes to stare at his face. She felt a slight hysteria building under the surface. She needed to move, get away from his gaze, his presence, before she fell back under his spell. He seemed to sense her growing unease, and Damon dropped his grasp on her hand and moved back.

"Elena, I have tried to do what you wanted. I've stayed away, I haven't contacted you, I haven't interfered in your life. It's been the most painful thing I've ever done, all because you asked for me to go, " he softly chided her. "I promised to never leave you. And you've tried to make me break that promise. I can't stand by now, after all this time, and watch something terrible happen to you." They had been through this so many times. She knew he wasn't being completely truthful. He hadn't ever truly left her. The pained expression on his face tore at her heart.

"You can come to my place, and we'll talk. We can found out from Jeremy what's going on." Elena whispered in compromise. Damon rushed around the car with vampiric speed, sliding into the seat next to her before she had barely finished speaking. Elena shifted the car into drive and pulled away from the parking lot with a building sense of anxiety growing in her stomach as the car entered the dark highway. They sat in complete silence as she clipped down the highway towards her apartment. Why did she feel like she was running towards trouble rather than away from it?


	2. Chapter 2

_Please review! I welcome all feedback! Thanks for reading._

Chapter 2: Earlier that Morning

Damon was waking up with a rotten headache and a nasty taste in his mouth when the phone rang. He haphazardly glanced at the phone to see it was Jeremy Gilbert on the line. Knowing that he was not at the top of Jeremy's friend list, Damon grabbed the phone and sputtered "what's going on?" as he answered the phone. The younger Gilbert would not be calling him for a social chat.

"I need you to find Elena. She's not answering my calls." came Jeremy's terse reply.

"Do you think I'm some kind of errand boy, Gilbert?" Damon shot back. "Elena is not my problem, as you both have made abundantly clear."

"You think I don't know you're in Alexandria right now? Probably watching her like some kind of crazed stalker? I'm calling you because you might actually be of some use to Elena right now." Jeremy exploded. He continued on before Damon could even get a word in, "You know that Bonnie has been, what we shall say, off lately? Well, off doesn't cut it anymore. She's gone off the reservation again, and this time she has taken the stake with her. And you know her obsession with killing Klaus and Alaric once and for all. Which in turn means killing you as well as a lot of other blood-suckers out there. Which is fine by me, but it does leave Elena with a pretty short life expectancy too."

Damon dropped down to sit on the bed, sitting in stunned silence for a moment. "I don't understand how this is happening. Bonnie was neutralized for God's sake. The other witches made sure of that after last time."

Jeremy gave out an exasperated grunt. "You said it yourself, Damon. Witches are fickle. I don't know how it's happened, but you need to get Elena somewhere safe. Tyler and Caroline are still in Europe with Elijah. I wouldn't have called you but you are the closest option."

Damon's heart started racing. Why hadn't Jeremy been able to get a hold of Elena already? "Why isn't Elena taking your calls? When did all of this happen?" he queried.

"I just found out about Bonnie this morning. I've tried Elena 3 times and send 3 texts. Her phone is off or something has happened to her. But maybe instead of interrogating me, you should just go find out where she is." Jeremy challenged.

Damon hastily looked at the clock. It was 4 pm. Good God, had he slept the day away? "Fine, I'll find her. But you know this is not going to go well." Damon said as he walked to the bathroom to start the shower. Last night was not the night to take such a bender, he thought ruefully.

"I don't care about that, Damon. Just do what you've always done best. . protect my sister before she takes matters in her own hands. When she finds out about Bonnie, she'll try and come up with her own solution. We know how Elena's plans always work out." Jeremy reminded him as he hung up the phone.

Damon knew that well enough. Elena was a walking Pandora's box of bad ideas most of the time. With that thought for motivation, Damon stepped into the shower as contemplated his next move. Elena was a not going to be happy about seeing him. But he could not help but feel a slightly giddy feeling at the prospect of being with her again. Maybe he could finally convince her to let her walls down and feel something once again. He calmly dressed and hurried out the door, plotting his first move in his mind as he exited the hotel onto the busy street.

Two hours later, Damon was still trying to determine where Elena was. A quick drive by her apartment verified her car wasn't there. Her apartment appeared to be undisturbed as he peeked through the windows. At six pm on a Sunday night, it was doubtful she was at her office. He went by her gym, her grocery store, her coffee shop. All the usual places she visited were a bust. His anxiety heightened as darkness fell on the city. He tried her phone and found that it went straight to voicemail, just as Jeremy had described.

Damon decided that he needed to feed before continuing the search. He did not know what situation he would encounter in this search for Elena. It was better to be safe than sorry. It took no time at all to find a bar filled with drunken fools watching the Patriots and Redskins game. A pretty redhead was headed to the restroom and he caught up to her in a flash of an eye. She stumbled into him as he appeared, almost out of nowhere, in front of her.

"Oh, excuse me. I didn't see you there at all!" she exclaimed.

Damon smirked, and catching her arm, replied back lazily, "It's no problem, Red. Why don't you join me in the restroom?" His eyes dilated, forcing her gaze to his. She was barely inside the door before he pulled her to him and sank his fangs into her lovely white neck. The woman let a frightened squeak as Damon pulled back to gaze into her eyes once again. "You will not be frightened of me. Relax and enjoy this." he said before sinking his teeth back into her soft flesh. The woman gasped and sighed as he pulled the thick warm blood from her now-willing body. He felt her heart thundering in her chest as he continued to drink. When he felt that tell-tale slowing of her heart beat, he pulled back, licking his lips. The woman was breathing heavily and gazed up at him with glassy eyes.

"Oh, don't stop. . " she said, looking at up him.

Damon pulled her face close to his, demanding her gaze match his as his pupils dilated. "You don't want me to touch you. You will walk out of here and go home and rest. You will not remember meeting me here." He gave her a slight push towards the door. The woman blinked rapidly, not sure what was going on.

"Did I just walk into the men's room? I'm so embarrassed!" she sputtered as she looked quickly away from Damon as she walked through the door. "I've had more to drink than I thought!" Damon chuckled to himself as he saw her walk away. Worked like a charm every time.

Feeling refreshed, Damon left the bar after grabbing a quick shot of bourbon on the way out. He decided to refocus the search for Elena. He drove back to her apartment and parked outside on the street. Her car was still gone. Damn that woman, he thought to himself. She never ceases to be exasperating. He thought back to the many times she had knowingly and unknowingly put herself in danger. Why did he have to fall in love with the most stubborn, accident-prone woman this side of the Continental Divide? Especially one that wanted nothing to do with him. It must be destiny for a vampire to be in love with her. Any normal human would be toast. He stopped himself from thinking about the humans men in her life right now. If the thoughts didn't drive him mad from jealousy, he might actually feel sorry for the dumb bastard that found himself ensnared by Elena's charms.

His phone blipped suddenly, pulling him out his reverie. A text from Jeremy. He jabbed out a quick reply that Elena was still missing in action. Hopefully this is a case of no news is good news. He glanced at the time and realized that it was much later than he expected. He decided to take a trip back towards Elena's office at the newspaper. He could get in that building and at least check her desk or her computer for information. As he drove past a deserted convenience store, he spotted Elena getting out of her car in the parking lot. He let out a quick expletive as he was at once relieved to see she was fine but annoyed at her carelessness. He felt his ire raise at having being so incredibly useless all day in looking for her. Where in the hell had she been?

Damon whipped his car into the parking and sped out the door of his car. He moved a vampire speed so quickly through the empty parking lot that his movement was a blur in the window as Elena walked through the open door and down the aisle. She paused at the dairy case, looking into his reflection as he stood behind her as she reached for the door handle. Damon felt the familiar stab of heartbreak as he watched her entire body stiffen as she locked her eyes with his. He heard her faint murmur of "Damon." as she turned toward him. He frowned as he realized how much he ached to hear her say his name again.


End file.
